FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact:
Jeffrey Mazzella
703.535.5836
November
12, 2003
CFIF Exposes 44 U.S. Senators as Enemies of Justice
Releases Judicial Nominations Scorecard
Alexandria,
Va. As partisan animus continues to infect the judicial
confirmation process in the U.S. Senate, the Center for Individual
Freedom today released a judicial nominations scorecard
for the first session of the 108th Congress.
The
scorecard rates the votes of all 100
Senators on the 13 cloture motions introduced this year that would
have allowed simple up or down votes on President Bushs filibustered
judicial nominees. Currently, the confirmations of five circuit
court nominees, Priscilla Owen, Charles Pickering, Janice Rogers
Brown, Bill Pryor and Carolyn Kuhl, are being filibustered
the obstructionist tactic used to drive Miguel Estrada, an American
Bar Association-rated "well-qualified" nominee for the
D.C. Circuit, to withdraw his name from consideration after being
held in confirmation limbo for nearly two-and-a-half years.
"At
a time when the federal judiciary is plagued by vacancies and mounting
case loads, a minority of Senators is using all means necessary
to block those nominees who dont conform to their ideological
mold," said Jeffrey Mazzella, the Centers Executive Director.
"Traditional considerations of experience, judicial temperament
and respect for the rule of law no longer matter. The obstructionists
have sent their message loud and clear to all current and future
nominees: Unless you pass their partisan litmus test, you wont
even get a confirmation vote on the Senate floor."
Forty-four
Senators scored zero percent on the Centers scorecard,
signifying that they voted against all 13 cloture motions on the
filibustered nominees. These Senators are:
Daniel
Akaka (D-HI)
Max Baucus (D-MT)
Evan Bayh (D-IN)
Joseph Biden (D-DE)
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Robert Byrd (D-WV)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Thomas Carper (D-DE)
Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
Kent Conrad (D-ND)
Jon Corzine (D-NJ)
Tom Daschle (D-SD)
Mark Dayton (D-MN)
Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
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Byron Dorgan
(D-ND)
Richard Durbin (D-IL)
John Edwards (D-NC)
Russ Feingold (D-WI)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Bob Graham (D-FL)
Tom Harkin (D-IA)
Ernest Hollings (D-SC)
Daniel Inouye (D-HI)
Tim Johnson (D-SD)
Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
John Kerry (D-MA)
Herb Kohl (D-WI)
Mary Landrieu (D-LA)
Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) |
Patrick
Leahy (D-VT)
Carl Levin (D-MI)
Joseph Lieberman (D-CT)
Blanche Lincoln (D-AR)
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Patty Murray (D-WA)
Mark Pryor (D-AR)
Jack Reed (D-RI)
Harry Reid (D-NV)
John Rockefeller (D-WV)
Paul Sarbanes (D-MD)
Charles Schumer (D-NY)
Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Ron Wyden (D-OR) |
"These
44 enemies of justice have corrupted the independence of
the federal judiciary and undermined the administration of justice
for far too long," Mazzella added. "Their partisan antics
should not and will not go unnoticed by the American people."
The
Center for Individual Freedom is a nonpartisan constitutional advocacy
group that fights to protect and defend individual freedoms and
rights in the legal, legislative and educational arenas. Visit www.cfif.org
for updates as the Center will continue to score all votes
to end the filibusters.
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